Cry of the Comet
by Volstgalph234
Summary: My first story. The skies have darkened and it is revealed as a bad omen for the future. A young man named Sirius has come, only to bring more horrors with him. Conflict has risen to a whole new level.
1. Chapter 1

_C r y o f t h e C o m e t: T h e B e g i n n i n g_

A N a r u t o S t o r y

**I**

Our main character, the 15-year-old boy in the orange-and-black jumpsuit, is Naruto Uzumaki, and the container of the Nine-tailed Demon Fox, Kyuubi. And now, for our story. Naruto is walking down a crowded sidewalk in Konoha. The empty, darkened streets are lined with even more people. The sky always seemed to be gray during the day, and yet the night was lit up with the bright stars that fill up the extra space. But for now, it was mid-afternoon, and the sky, of course, was gray. He glanced up at the sky and sighed. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. His mind was entranced about Sasuke, as usual.

Sasuke is a black-haired 15-year-old who seemed to be quick-witted and a somebody to Naruto, but more so, as a friend. Sasuke betrayed Naruto two-and-a-half years ago after he had tried to rescue him from Orochimaru. But, during his thoughts, he thought about Sakura. He had never really paid much attention to her during the past few months, due to his thoughts being raveled up in Sasuke.

Naruto had known Sakura since childhood and had a huge crush on her two-and-a-half years ago, but since then, they had become good friends, and Naruto never really had a crush on her anymore. But, nowadays, he actually missed her, even though she was right down the street. It was that he never visited her or anything anymore.

"Well, I guess I should... Ahhhhh!" he slapped his head once. "What am I saying? She's perfectly able without me seeing her... right?" Naruto wasn't so sure himself, but some invisible force dragged him forward towards Sakura's place.

Sakura looked over at the picture of Team 7 that was taken about three years ago. She sighed and gave a sniffle. She always seemed to be crying when she saw that picture. Sasuke was gone for good; over with Orochimaru. As for Naruto, he never came over, with that usual confident smile. She enjoyed it when she got to see his face. There was just a happy, joyful aura about him that made her happy. But ever since he left, she seemed sad and out of shape; sometime she couldn't even sleep. But when he came back, Sakura felt herself overjoyed. But then, she even hardly saw him when he was around, because he was training so much now.

Sakura looked over towards a closed window. A dim, grayish light spread through the slit between the closed curtains. That was probably why her skin was so pale in the first place. She barely let any light in any of the rooms. She sighed and weak smile spread over her face as she headed over towards the curtains. But when she reached for them, there was a knock at her door. Sakura blinked with a curious look on her face. Ever since she started living by herself, she barely had any visitors.

Sakura headed for the door with a slight gleam of hope that it would be Naruto through that door. She gulped down the lump in her throat and twisted the doorknob and opened the door.

"Hi!" Naruto greeted cheerfully. A wide smile spread across Sakura's face and she almost felt like hugging Naruto. She pulled herself together and remembered that this _was _Naruto.

"Um, uh, hello, er, Naruto," Sakura replied, desperately struggling to be as formal as possible. "So, uh, what brings you here?"

"I wanted to say hi. I haven't seen you in a while, Sakura-chan. I've just been caught up in so many things that I never found anytime to relax, you know? Besides, I should be asking _you_ that! Shouldn't you be at Granny Tsunade's?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, she gave me the, uh, day off," Sakura was trying to catch her sentences so that she would think before saying anything. "You, umm, w-want to come inside?"

"Sure! Thanks, Sakura-chan!" Naruto replied with that same cheery smile.

Sakura shut the door behind and leaned against it, her hand slightly trembling, but still clutching the doorknob. "Sorry if the place is a bit of a mess, but I don't get out much so, uh, yeah..."

Naruto sat on a nearby couch, "Well, that's okay. Not many people want to go outside on such dull days."

Sakura cut in, "But the nights are beautiful, aren't they?"

"Yeah, they are, actually. One of the only beautiful things left here."

"Yeah..." Sakura agreed dreamily. They were placed in there positions for a few moments, but soon, Sakura continued. "Well, I guess you gotta get going now?"

"I guess," Naruto stood up. "Well, nice seeing you, Sakura-chan."

"Nice seeing you too, Naruto..." her voice stopped her from adding "goodbye". As Naruto started walking out, Sakura added something different, "You know, Naruto. Um... You wanna, uh, go... out on a date or something sometime soon?"

That joyful smile appeared on Naruto's face again, "Sure, Sakura-chan! Bye!"

"Bye," Sakura replied softly with a weak smile.

Sakura exited from her home a few hours later. And as she headed out, and interesting thing she found was a large face mirror that was up for a garage sale. She couldn't help but stare at herself in the mirror, noticing how her pink bubblegum-colored hair had grown slightly longer and a bit uneven and raggedy-looking. It still resembled the same original shape, but was a bit wilder looking over the past two-and-a-half years.

Before examining herself further, the owner arrived and released Sakura from her facial trance, "Can I help you, young lady?" the woman asked. She was a bunched up woman in fancy, yellow clothing. She had a kind face about her and Sakura smiled that weak smile she always did.

"Um, how much is this?" Sakura asked, searching through her pockets.

"Oh, for such an adorable girl like you? You can have it for free, dear," the woman replied sweetly.

Sakura's smile widened slightly, "Thank you, miss!" Sakura took the mirror gently and held it underneath her arm.

"How is it that such a pretty thing like you doesn't have a swarm of boys about her anyway?" the woman asked.

"Oh, I don't get out much, miss. And besides, I'm a ninja," Sakura replied.

"Oh, I see, an indoor type. I see too many of them nowadays. No wonder you're so slim and pale, you poor thing!" the woman replied, almost totally ignoring what Sakura had said about herself being a ninja..

Sakura felt a little down from those comments. "But, miss, I like the way I look," Sakura replied, trying to reinforce herself. "I think I look fine."

"Well, is there a boy you like?" the woman asked.

"Well... There is this one guy... I don't actually _love_ him, but..."

"Well, who, deary?"

"Um, Naruto Uzumaki..."

The woman grew pale herself and looked as if she had swallowed something _very _awful. "_Him_?! The _demon boy_?!"

At this, Sakura grew angry, "Hey! Don't say that about him! _So what_ if he has some fox inside him? Scratch the surface, and he's a good guy!" Sakura immediately left after that, her back turned to the woman.

Sakura went to sleep in her usual dull, gray t-shirt that was way too big for her, and a long pair of matching, dull, gray shorts that were also too big for her. She couldn't sleep though. Sakura kept starring up at the ceiling, but soon enough glanced at her bandaged arm. She sighed, and desperately tried to get some sleep. But when she did, it wasn't pleasant.

Her dream kept involving the demon fox, clutching Naruto in one hand and fusing Naruto with himself to make that evil demon that Naruto had transformed into a month back. As soon as Naruto had transformed, in the dream, he formed that energy ball that Sakura had seen him do before, and blasted all of Konoha to pieces. And, in the distance of the mass of destruction, stand the demon fox, with blood dripping from its mouth. It turned its head towards Sakura and leapt at her.

Sakura immediately snapped her eyes open and yelled, "Naruto!" Sakura sat up afterward, breathing irregularly. Cold sweat dripped from all over her face and all over her body. Sakura fell back on her bed, her arms spread out. "Naruto..." she whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

Off in the faraway distance of the mountains near the edges of the Fire Country, stood a man with a sword sheathed at his back and a dark-gray headband with no emblem was tied on the mysterious figure's head. This man, was known as Sirius. He wore a dark-gray, long-sleeved shirt with armor-plating at the shoulders. The large leather band which held the sheath in place was buckled across Sirius' chest, and he had a black band on his right arm, right underneath the armor plating.. He wore black, leather gloves that were also plated with armor at the knuckles and the fingers were cut off to show his own fingers. Sirius wore matching gray pants with two belts that were slightly loosened, so they crossed each other. He lastly wore a pair of black shoes that were also armor-plated at the end. His facial features were odd, but normal. His skin was tan and he had blue eyes with a scar crossing over the left eye, but his left eye was still functional. His hair was spiked all over and was a grayish-purple.

Anyway, Sirius starred down at Konoha from the mountains with a plain face. _Konoha_, he thought to himself, _Maybe I can find the answer here_.

Sakura lay on her side in bed, unable to sleep anymore. Her eyes were still half-closed and it seemed as if she were some sort of trance. A knock at her door is what woke her from that trance and she rushed out of bed and ran for the door. She accidentally slid and slammed her face into the door. After a painful moment holding her face, she opened the door to see her parents.

"Hi mom, hi dad," she greeted through a bleeding nose.

"Good morning dear, we wanted to stop over to see how you were doing, living by yourself," Sakura's mother replied cheerfully.

"Well, it's good to see you. You want to come in?" she asked, holding her nose.

"Gladly," her father replied and walked in. Sakura stepped aside to let her parents through. Her mother and father sat on the couch nearby.

"So, how do you like living by yourself? It's been about a year or two since you left home, hasn't it?" her mother asked.

"Yes, I enjoy it," Sakura replied as she headed for a tissue.

There was slight silence, but was soon broken by Sakura's mother, "So... you into anymore boys?"

Much later, Sakura's parents had left after visiting and Sakura had to get ready for her "date" with Naruto. She hadn't an idea what to wear. _Oh, man!_ she thought, _What does Naruto like in a girl? Ummmm... Oh, no... What am I gonna do? He'll be hear in about five minutes and I haven't even gotten dressed yet or anything!_ Sakura was in a nerve-racking state, trying helplessly to find a way to impress Naruto. She didn't truly know him well enough to know if he liked her in her regular attire or if he liked anything special or specific. But, not only did she concentrate on her clothes, but her hair too. Did he think that her hair looked messy at all? Sakura gulped the same lump in her throat whenever she got nervous. Sakura liked her hair, but she always thought of it as a bit of a disarray. It _did_ seem to show off her forehead a bit too much. But, Naruto never seemed to mind, didn't he? Sakura nodded to herself in the mirror. She was going to keep her hair the way it was, but, now her clothes were the same dilemma she was having before. What was she going to wear? She thought maybe she should wear something that made her look somewhat cute or innocent. Would that be a good choice? Would Naruto like that? Sakura was worried, yet still was determined that she wouldn't have Naruto on her mind about everything. She accredited the idea and went to the bathroom to get a quick shower.

Naruto seemed to have arrived a bit too early, because when he knocked several times before, there was no answer. The door was open, but there was a light inside. And so, Naruto decided to quietly intrude, but he made himself believe it was a good choice. Naruto proceeded to Sakura's bedroom and sat on her rather colossal pink bed. But when he did, he made the bed bounce and knock one of Sakura's drawers on top of himself. He fell on the floor with the drawer on top of him and clothes flying everywhere. _Oh, no... I better clean this up before-_ but his thoughts were cut off when he noticed Sakura just about to come through the doorway when she stopped and froze in place at her bedroom with just a towel on.

Sakura's face blushed heavily and her eyes widened, "N-Naruto?! Wh-what are you doing here in my bedroom?!"

"S-s-sorry, S-Sakura-chan!" Naruto apologized after pushing the drawer off himself.

Embarrassed anger flowed through Sakura's entire body at that moment. So much, she dragged Naruto by the collar and threw him outside of her apartment. Afterward, Sakura somewhat felt she shouldn't have done that and continued onward with preparations for her date, hoping that Naruto wouldn't leave.

Naruto landed flat on the ground. "Ow!" he muttered, picking himself up. Once he got back up on his feet, he brushed himself off and looked over towards Sakura's doorway. _Oh, please don't make me have to use poetry..._ Naruto thought. _Wait, what am I saying? I could just leave right now!... But then I'd be a jerk and Sakura and myself might not be friends anymore... And besides, Sakura hasn't been a real jerk to me, has she?_ Naruto thought good and hard for a few moments. _Oh wait, she has... But that was a long time ago._

And after a few minutes, Sakura eventually did come out, but she only peeped her head out of the doorway, to see if Naruto was still there. "Naruto?" she asked through the still darkness.

"Yeah, I'm still here. You wouldn't think I'd leave, did you?" Naruto asked with a broad grin on his face.

"Thanks, Naruto," Sakura replied. She closed the door again, even though this time she was dressed, she was too embarrassed to show herself. She quickly grabbed that old, red ribbon she had when she was younger that Ino had given her and tied it in her hair. She was wearing her regular attire she usually wore, only the shirt was wearing was bright pink, and even though it still had no sleeves like her regular shirts she wore, this one didn't have a collar.

Sakura, with almost no courage whatsoever at this moment. This time, she was going on a real date with Naruto, but he most likely thought they were going as friends, which was good on Sakura's part. She slowly opened the door and peeked her head out again and slid through the doorway and shut it behind herself.

"You look nice, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called to her joyfully.

Sakura froze, forgetting that Naruto was still standing over there. Sakura quickly turned around and faced Naruto. "Oh, um, thanks, Naruto, he he," she replied nervously. She swallowed dryly. "So, uh, ready to go, I guess?" she asked.

"Of course!" Naruto replied.

Sakura smiled weakly, but behind that was pure joy.

Sakura and Naruto had made there way over to a nearby cafe' instead of the usual ramen shop. Even though Naruto dearly wanted some ramen (like he always did) he thought, tonight, he should more "proper" in his opinion. And when they arrived, Naruto noticed a huge sign planted on top of the door. In large, bold, black letters it stated:

**Karaoke Night! **

**Just for all you great stars out there who believe you have a chance at a singing career, then come here and sing your heart out to see if you're the best there is!**

**7:00 p.m. - Midnight**

"Hey, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Can you sing?"

"W-what do mean?"

"It says it's Karaoke Night! Up on the sign there," Naruto answered, pointing to the large, white sign.

"Naruto! I can't sing! I'm... I-"

"Oh, c'mon! It'll be fun! Just pretend no one's watching!"

"But, I _can't _sing! I'm really... bad at it, you know? I'll only embarrass myself!"

"Have you ever sung before?"

"Well... no, but... What if I _am_ really bad?"

"You never know until you try, right?"

"I guess... But-"

"They won't, okay?" Naruto replied, reassuringly.

"But... Fine, I'll do," Sakura replied, not so sure herself.

"Cool! Let's sign you up!"

Some of the singers were pretty bad, but there were those few that seemed as if they were the best of the best. Sakura felt more nervous as her turn got closer and closer, but it eventually came to her turn and she stood up shakily. She quickly thought up a song she knew the words to, but then she thought of one she had listened to a long time ago, she heard it right after Sasuke had left for Orochimaru. She had thought the song was great for that moment ever since. Yes, she would sing that.

Two judges sat in their chairs up front with clipboards in hands, marking just about everything the saw and heard. This made Sakura even more nervous. "So, what are you going to be singing dear?" the woman judge asked. She was the same woman who sold Sakura that mirror from a few days ago.

"It's called Angels by Within Temptations...," Sakura replied through the microphone.

"Alright then, sing," the woman ordered, taking her pencil. "Music."

Sakura cleared her throat. The music of the song started up and Sakura didn't realize that she'd have to get it exactly right, but she went with it anyway.

"_Sparkling angel I believe..._

_You were my savior in my time of need..._

_Blinded by faith I couldn't hear..._

_All the whispers, the warnings so clear..._

_I see the angels,_

_I'll lead them to your door..._

_There's no escape now,_

_No mercy no more..._

_No remorse 'cause I still remember..."_

Naruto was amazed more and more by Sakura's singing. He never really thought she could sing _that well_. He looked around to see even more people atarting to go into awe and listen.

_"The smile when you tore me apart..._

_You took my heart,_

_Deceived me right from the start..._

_You showed me dreams,_

_I wished they'd turn into real..._

_You broke a promise and made me realize..._

_It was all just a lie..."_

_"Sparkling angel, I couldn't see..._

_Your dark intentions, your feelings for me..._

_Fallen angel, tell me why?_

_What is the reason, the thorn in your eye?_

_I see the angels,_

_I'll lead them to your door..._

_There's no escape now..._

_No mercy no more..._

_No remorse cause I still remember..."_

_"The smile when you tore me apart..._

_You took my heart,_

_Deceived me right from the start..._

_You showed me dreams,_

_I wished they turn into real..._

_You broke a promise and made me realize..._

_It was all just a lie..._

_Could have been forever..._

_Now we have reached the end..."_

Just about everyone was listening except for a few people.

_"This world may have failed you,_

_It doesn't give you a reason why..._

_You could have chosen a different path in life..."_

_  
_Here came the finale and the music, of course, grew.

_"The smile when you tore me apart..._

_You took my heart,_

_Deceived me right from the start..._

_You showed me dreams,_

_I wished they turn into real..._

_You broke the promise and made me realize..._

_It was all just a lie..._

_Could have been forever..._

_Now we have reached the end..."_

Then, the song concluded and the whole room was in applause. Sakura blushed with a smile on her face. She immediately ran over to Naruto and everyone kept clapping as she passed.

_  
_"How did I do?" she asked excitedly.

"You were awesome Sakura-chan!" Naruto congratulated.

Sakura, without realizing what she was doing, hugged Naruto. Naruto got slightly pink, but accepted it nonetheless.

Naruto and Sakura exited into the still darkness, with the stars bloomed in the sky. They walked together for a while silently until Naruto finally broke the silence.

"Wanna get something to eat?" Naruto asked, hungry for ramen.

"Okay," Sakura agreed. "Where?"

"The ramen shop?" Naruto immediately suggested. _Please! Please! I need ramen! _Naruto thought.

"Of course!" Sakura agreed cheerfully.

_"_Awesome! C'mon, I'm starving!" Naruto retorted, grabbing Sakura's hand and running towards Ichiraku Ramen.


	3. Chapter 3

**III**

Meanwhile...

Sirius stood in front of the gate to Konoha, starring at the leaf symbol as if it were about to tell him the reason for life right there.

"So, you've come..." came a sly, snake-like voice in Sirius' head.

Sirius unsheathed his broad-sword from the sheath on his back. But then, his left arm was pulsing with pain and he grabbed his shoulder in agony. Through seething pain, he replied, "And what is it _you_ want, demon?"

"Hmph, I thought we were on the same side-"

"I'm not joining the likes of you! I'm not as weak as the Uchiha!" Sirius interrupted, grabbing the bottom of the hilt with his other hand, as his arm receded the pain.

"And still, you have chosen a foolish decision. We want the same thing-"

"We are _not_ on the same side, demon! You can't lure _me_! I'm going to save the planet from what you have already done to it!" Sirius interrupted yet again.

"Hmph, ignorant as ever... Well, if I can't tame you, maybe my minion will!" the voice cried. In a poof of black smoke, it was none other than the same 15-year-old boy who had betrayed Konoha years ago. With his raven-colored hair and his katana in hand, Sasuke stood and faced Sirius, uninterested as ever.

"And so, we meet again, _Sirius_," Sasuke spat Sirius' name in disgust and walked slowly towards him. He stopped after a being a few feet away from Sirius and gripped his sword more firmly.

Sirius already started forming hand seals as he quickly sheathed his sword away.

Sasuke did the same.

"_Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu_!" A massive water dragon shot out of Sirius' mouth and shot itself at Sasuke at lightning speed.

"_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu_!" A just-as0large fire ball formed from Sasuke's mouth and hit the dragon.

The two techniques clashed in a gust of steam, but the water dragon broke through the fire and threw itself at Sasuke. When the dragon hit its target, Sasuke exploded in a poof of smoke. _A shadow clone?_ Sirius thought and turned around. Sasuke came up through the ground and grabbed Sirius by his ankles and wrapped his legs around Sirius' body.

"It's over!" Sasuke cried as the pair of them came thrusting downward with Sirius' head first.

"Not yet!" Sirius howled back and he formed more hand seals. "_Mizu Bushin no Jutsu!_" he yelled and a water clone appeared out of Sirius' mouth as he spat out saliva onto the ground.

The clone formed hand seals and thrust its hands to to ground. "_Chidori!_" the clone cried and a white ball of shrieking lightning came forth from the clone's hands.

_Shoot_, Sasuke thought as he noticed the ball of lightning from the clone. Just as Sasuke and Sirius about to go down, Sasuke instantly let go and went and kicked the clone in the head, making it fly back. But, instead of hitting the gate, the clone's feet landed on the gate and, in that instant, the clone propelled itself towards Sasuke at an even faster rate.

Sasuke unsheathed his katana and sliced the clone once it got near enough, from the head to its feet. The clone splashed into a puddle of water. But, Sasuke turned around to see Sirius rushing towards Sasuke with his own "Thousand Birds" (That's the name of the jutsu in English.)

Sasuke activated his Sharingan and formed a ball of lightning of his own without using any hand seals. Sasuke ran towards Sirius and then they both came together at that one instant and then...

"_CHIDORI!!!_"

"What was that?" Naruto had noticed a white flash in the distance. Sakura seemed to have noticed too.

"It seems to be coming from the gate," Sakura declared and turned towards Naruto. "C'mon! Let's go see what it is!"

"Hai!" Naruto replied and followed Sakura towards the light.

When Naruto and Sakura had gotten to the gate, they summoned chakra to their feet and hurried up the gate walls and hopped over with Naruto going down first. When Sakura landed on her feet too, they gazed as they saw the sight before them.

A wounded Sasuke with only one eye open was just conjuring up a portal to escape and another man was sitting with one of his hands on his wounded stomach.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried out to him.

Sasuke just turned his head and glared angrily and went back to the conjured up gate and fell through.

"SASUKE!" Naruto yelled after him, running over to the portal. But it was too late. The portal had completely disappeared before Naruto had gotten there. "NO! SASUKE! SASUKE! SASUKE!!!" Naruto screamed.

"Naruto, calm down! This man's injured!" Sakura called to him. Naruto had started beating at the ground after failing yet again to get a hold of Sasuke.

"Naruto!" Sakura called to him yet again.

Naruto had stopped, but had soon enough started crying. Sakura wanted to comfort him in some way, but right now, the man before her was bleeding, dying. She had to take care of _him_ first. Sakura ran over to the injured man and soon enough started healing him with her chakra. What she noticed odd about this man is that he had no symbol on his headband.

"Excuse me, sir?" she asked softly whilst healing him.

The young man opened his eyes and turned his head towards Sakura. "Sorry... I couldn't save your friend."

Sakura was a little shocked at first, "H-how do you know that S-Sasuke was my friend?"

"I can see it all over your face, that's how," Sirius muttered. "And you said 'was', so he _isn't_ your friend any longer, I guess?"

Sakura felt herself a little uncomfortable talking to this man. "I just, don't know..."

"Hmmmm, oh well... Oh, and one thing..." Sirius retorted.

"Yes?" Sakura asked.

"Don't call me 'sir'... I'm only 17..." Sirius replied, a small smile on his face.

Sakura smiled back, "Alright then, I won't."

"My name's Sirius... Just in case... you were wondering..." Sirius acquainted.

"My name's Sakura," Sakura replied back.

"It suits you... Anyway, you should be going to your friend. Looks like he needs you..." Sirius turned his head back towards Naruto.

"He'll be fine. He acts like this towards Sasuke anyway."

"Hmph..."


	4. Chapter 4

**IV**

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you teach my something?... Please?"

"What, Sakura-chan?"

"Do you think you could teach me the..."

Sakura shot up in bed, breathing irregularly. She wiped her face off with her sleeve and looked downward at her hands. They were trembling. That had been two-and-a-half years ago when she asked that question. Naruto was going to leave the day after that one. Sakura had known that, but Naruto had told her that she couldn't learn it. She had always wondered why since then. Was there something Naruto knew that she didn't? Sakura pushed that thought out of her mind and tried to go back to sleep.

Sirius had been kept in the Konoha Hospital ever since last night and there had been no sign of where Sasuke went either, though the ANBU were investigating this matter and what was so special about Sirius to have Orochimaru himself have contact with him. But Sirius just lie there, with his hands behind his head.

Naruto sat beside Sirius, waiting for him to say something about Sasuke. But, he never did. Sirius just kept starring at the ceiling. _How could this guy have any contact with Sasuke?_ Naruto thought. _And if he did fight him, how is it that he could've wounded Sasuke so easily?_ All of the answers Naruto was looking for were just handed to him by one guy. Even though he was a guy that wouldn't possibly talk to you without his "approval".

"So... how do you know Sasuke, anyway?" Naruto asked, without anymore patience left in him.

There was silence. At last, Sirius replied. "I know him... only because of Orochimaru."

"'Because of Orochimaru'? What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked, happy to finally be getting some answers.

Sirius sat up. Slowly and hesitantly, Sirius reached for the back of his neck. When he nearly touched the end of his neck, an evil, hideous thought appeared in his mind and his arm instantly rushed back into his lap. "What I mean by that is..." But Sirius stopped as if he couldn't remember what he was about to say, or as if he were distracted by something else.

"What is it?" Naruto asked. At that instant, the door opened. Naruto expected Tsunade, but instead, who came in was Sakura.

As she came in, Sakura closed the door behind, and she was dressed in her regular attire. "Sorry to intrude, but I need to check up on how he's doing."

"Who?" Naruto asked, confused.

Sakura smiled as she walked over, "Why, Sirius, of course. He's the one in the hospital bed."

"But... But, Sirius was about to reveal what he knew about Sasuke!"

"Well, that's gonna have to wait for later! The hospital's discharging Sirius today!" Sakura replied with authority in her voice.

"You mean... They're going to release him?!"

"Well, of course! His wounds are perfectly healed, so there's no need for him to be here!" Sakura explained.

"But! What if he runs away?! We'll never find out where Sasuke is?!"

"Why would I run away? I'm not a child you know. I came here on purpose," Sirius interrupted.

"And besides, all you think about all day is Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke! You never think about those who care about you, Naruto!" Sakura continued.

"Of course I do-"

"Well, what about last night?!"

Naruto looked stunned for a second as he looked up at Sakura. "What about it?!"

"You practically _cried_ over Sasuke! You were on your _knees_! What?! And you're looking at me like I'm crazy! You totally ignored me the rest of the night after that! What, is he your _master_ now?! 'Oh, Sasuke, please! I'll be a good boy! I promise! I love you more than anything! I'll get on my knees and kiss your feet, how about that? I'll just forget about Kakashi-sensei and Sakura and everyone just for you, Sasuke!'"

"I'm not gay-"

"'How about this? I'll be your play-thing and I'll die for you Sasuke-'"

"Sasuke's my friend too-"

"'How about this! I'll become an Akatsuki just so you can kill me too!'"

"NO I WOULDN'T! SAKURA, YOU'VE CROSSED THE LINE!"

"OH, _SHUT UP_! YOU KNOW THAT'S TRUE JUST AS MUCH AS I DO! YOU WOULDN'T GIVE A SHIT IF KAKASHI-SENSEI OR MYSELF DIED! EVEN IF IT WAS FOR YOU!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, SAKURA!!!"

"MAKE ME, DEMON!!!" But now, Sakura had gone too far. Naruto looked as if he were about to cry.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Naruto... I didn't mean it... It sort of just... came out... I'm sorry..."

A shadow crossed Naruto's eyes.

"Uh, oh..." Sirius muttered and hastily rushed out of the bed.

"Sakura-chan...!" Naruto grew more demonic-like and the shadow in his eyes faded with the color of his eyes changed to red.

"The Kyuubi..." Sirius muttered and grabbed his sword that was laying against the wall.

Naruto slashed at Sakura, who was in shock by the sudden activation of Kyuubi. Naruto slashed at Sakura in several places and pushed back, slamming her against the wall. She was bleeding heavily and yet still formed hand seals. One of her hands glowed green and she attempted to heal herself.

Meanwhile, Sirius stood in front of Sakura with his broad-sword in hand. "Leave this place, Kyuubi!"

Naruto tried to slash through Sirius, but Sirius blocked and formed hand seals. Sakura noticed the hand seals, "No! Don't hurt Naruto!"

Sirius growled, "Then what am I supposed to do?!"

"Distract him! I'll handle it!" Sakura ordered.

"Arg! I can't do that! What about you?" Sirius asked, glancing over at Sakura.

"Don't worry! Just... just get him outside!" Sakura insisted.

"I don't know what you have in mind, but-" Sirius rammed the end of his hilt into Naruto's stomach and he swept behind him and put put the flat part of the sword against Naruto's neck so he'd keep hold of him, "I'm up for it!" At that instant, Sirius was pushing Naruto to the window and rammed Naruto and himself through it. Sakura stood up weakly and looked down outside. Sirius and Naruto were stuck in a clash of sword and claws. They both landed on their feet and kept on fighting. Sakura got herself back inside the hospital and kept healing herself while chanting, "C'mon, c'mon, hurry!"

Sirius and Naruto kept up their battle. Kyuubi's power was growing more and more and Sirius could sense it. "Naruto! Calm down!"

"Arg! Out of the way! I'm going to get Sakura! She's mine to kill!" Naruto roared demonically.

_He is definitely not himself_, Sirius thought and he pushed Naruto back. Naruto slid, but kept on his feet. _That's it, I need to utilize my techniques about now!_ he thought as he noticed a red plasma engulf Naruto and one tail grow from it.

"Out of the way!" he heard a familiar voice. It was Sakura. She thrust out her hand. _I hope this works_, she thought to herself. All of the sudden, chakra started swirling into the palm of Sakura's hand.

_It can't be..._, Sirius thought in amazement.

_How did she...?_ Even an enraged Naruto was impressed.

It was definitely visible that Sakura was concentrating what chakra she had left into this one attack. And it was clear what she was about to use. The chakra formed into a round, blue ball of swirling chakra. _Naruto, I hope you're watching_, Sakura thought. Sakura rushed forward and thrust the ball into Naruto's stomach.

"_RASENGAN_!" she cried. There was definitely a lot of chakra molded into it, for there were huge waves of chakra coming from the ball of chakra.


	5. Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

Alright, this a note about Sakura utilizing the Rasengan. Due to everyone stating she had excellent chakra control compared to Naruto and Sasuke and that she bore a lot of chakra to use, that is where I concluded she should be able to use the Rasengan. So please, do not flame about it.

Besides, if you are also wondering how Sakura's Rasengan could possibly hurt One-Tailed Kyuubi Naruto, you have to understand that Rasengan is a _very_ powerful technique if used correctly. And since Sakura _did_ use it correctly to its full extent _and_ that she used more chakra than necessary. No, this does not make her more powerful than Naruto, I just wanted her to actually use a _real_, offensive technique like Rasengan, which I believed was perfect for her.

Also, in the later chapters about Sirius using Chidori, Sirius will explain why later. If you've ever read the original _Cry of the Comet_, you will know why he can. But for now, just enjoy the fact that he can use it.

I have also chosen appropriate theme songs for the characters. The listing is in order and will state what character I have chosen it for. There will also be important characters to the story, but I wanted to get the themes for the three main characters: Naruto, Sakura, Sirius, and Sasuke.

**_Naruto Uzumaki's Theme:_** "Out of Control" by Hoobastank

**_Sakura Haruno's Theme:_** "Angels" by Within Temptations

**_Sasuke Uchiha's Theme:_** "Until the End" by Breaking Benjamin

**_Sirius' Theme: _**"Freak on a Leash" by KoRn

**_Cry of the Comet: The Beginning Theme:_** "No Reason" by Sum 41

**_Prologue/ Epilogue Theme:_** "Opening" by Linkin Park

Now, lastly, I hope, if anyone has read it, you've enjoyed so far in the story. There are definitely more chapters to come, as Chapter V is in the works. I haven't gotten any reviews yet, but I hope I will have some eventually by story's end. But, by 'The Beginning', it literally means the beginning, as there are still two parts left to the story. I cannot give you any spoilers on what's to come, so sorry. Anyway, enjoy the rest of the story!

And as last note, I will probably have another author's note once we have all of the really important characters put in. Alright, sorry about interrupting the story!


	6. Chapter 5

**V**

Naruto was dazed by how Sakura could actually master the technique. _She must've mastered when... I was away!_ Naruto thought. Sakura let go of the ball. The "Spiraling Sphere" enlarged and engulfed Naruto in a giant blob of white and blue, which was pushing him back into the building behind him. Naruto was crushed through slightly as the blob disintegrated. The red plasma was gone from Naruto's body and fell on the ground, with his face on the ground.

Sakura fell to her knees, breathing hard and stared at the hand that had released the "Spiraling Sphere". Sirius starred as if he had just seen a horror movie; with his eyes wide and his mouth gawking.

"That was... the first time... I had ever used it offensively..." Sakura muttered in between breaths. Sakura looked up, in horror, to see a fallen Naruto laying there, as if he were dead.

'NARUTO!" She screamed and ran over to him. She bent over Naruto and kept shaking him, trying to make him wake up. "Naruto, wake up... Please, wake up! Please! I don't want you to die!"

Sirius' face smoothed out to normal, with a slightly sympathetic look on his face. He stood there, sword still in hand, observing the scene before him.

Sakura started crying heavily over Naruto's body. Sirius couldn't tell whether he was dead or not, but he knew, no matter how powerful a regular "Spiraling Sphere" was, it couldn't kill a person, but could severely injure them.

Sirius attempted to speak up. "I'm sorry..." he muttered simply, not sure exactly what to say.

"Shut up! Naruto can't die! He wouldn't! I can't believe it! I _won't_ believe it!" Sakura outraged a mush of emotion was in her tone.

Sirius sighed. But, when he looked back up, he noticed slight movement in Naruto. Sakura didn't seem to notice. He knew he had to say something. "Sa-Sakura? Sakura?!" She wouldn't stop crying. "SAKURA, SHUT UP AND LOOK!!!" Sirius didn't mean to sound angry, but he wanted Sakura to see that Naruto _was_ alive. Sakura did, indeed stop and noticed Naruto's movement as he struggled to get up. Sakura stood up and watched.

Naruto stood up eventually, but there was something... odd about him. "Sakura..." Naruto muttered.

"Yes?" she asked, trying to hold back more tears.

Naruto started to move forward and then stopped when he had gotten lost from arm's reach. "Don't _ever_ talk to me again..." Then Naruto continued stalking away.

Sirius could tell how hurt Sakura had felt inside. And well, she started to cry, but she had cried _so_ much that she fell to her knees, holding her stomach.

Sirius ran over to her as quickly as he could. _Oh, crap, she's gonna hurl_, he thought. "C'mon, get up!" he ordered, pulling Sakura up from her knees. _I've gotta get her home. If I take her into the hospital, they'll get suspicious_, Sirius thought as he grabbed Sakura and pulled her onto his back. Sirius grabbed Sakura's legs once she gotten a hold of him and got out of there as quickly as he could. Sakura's mind was under so much stress, that she apparently knocked herself out.

Sakura had woken up a few hours later. She had woken up to see herself in bed and wondered what was going on. Then she remembered Naruto and what he had said. Sakura felt like crying again, but she stopped herself and sat up. No one seemed to be with her. Not even Sirius. She was all alone, as ever. Didn't they think she would attempt suicide or something without supervision because she had lost her best friend? It wasn't like her to think something like that, but at the same time...

Sakura really needed someone, anyone, to be by her side. Then she started to think. Was she too much of a wuss or something? Was she too soft inside? Maybe, but then again, this was her best friend. Sakura was known to cry all the time anyway. Then it hit her. Maybe, it was because she _did_ cry too much... But, then again, she didn't think of herself as super emotional either. After thinking all of her thoughts though, Sakura didn't know _what_ to think.

"Sakura, what's wrong? You look awful..." Ten-Ten commented over at Hinata's Birthday Party.

Sakura had her head on her hands, and sat there with her eyes half open, gloom all over her pale face. "It's nothing..." she muttered; her eyes moving away from Ten-Ten's gaze.

"Oh, c'mon! It can't be nothing for you to look like _that_! C'mon, you can tell me," Ten-Ten insisted.

Sakura sighed and centered her eyes again, "Naruto hates me..." she muttered, staring into space.

"_Oh_, boy trouble... Yeah, that can be rough business," Ten-Ten replied as if she had experience in this field.

Ino sat next to Sakura, "Hey, girl! Why are you not having fun with the rest of us?"

Ten-Ten leaned over and whispered something into Ino's ear. "_Oh_, I see... You _love _Naruto!" she blurted out so just about everyone could hear.

Sakura's face burned hot pink and her eyes widened and embarrassment was all over her face, "N-no I don't!" Sakura objected.

"I'm gonna tell him when he gets here!" Ten-Ten teased.

"Wh-what?! He's _coming_?!" Sakura asked, twice as embarrassed as before.

"So you _do_ love him!" Ino replied obnoxiously.

"N-no _I don't_! I told you that!"

"People always deny their feelings for other people!"

"But I-"

"Hey, Naruto's here!"

"_What_?!"

"You wanna tell him, Ino?"

"Gladly!"

"NO! DON'T!"

"Oh, I'm gonna tell him."

"Please, Ino, no! I _don't_ love him!"

"But you _do_ have feelings for him, _don't_ you?"

Sakura didn't answer, but her reddened face told them everything.

"Ah, well, we were just kidding anyway, Sakura! Thanks for begging!" The two girls walked off, laughing their heads off.

"_Oh_..." Sakura groaned and put her head back on her hands.

"Sakura...?" a voice asked.

Sakura instantly picked up her head and turned it over to see who it was. It was Naruto!

"Naruto! But I thought..."

Naruto sat down next to Sakura. "Sakura... I know that some of things I said-"

"No... It was my fault... If I hadn't said some of the things I said... Maybe we could have avoided this..." Sakura apologized.

"And I'm sorry too..."

Sakura looked surprised that Naruto was apologizing for what she had said. She should have taken all of the blame, but he insisted that he take part of it too. "But... why?"

"If I hadn't gotten so angry... I wouldn't have hurt you like I did... You were right about Sasuke..." Naruto picked his head up to Sakura.

"But, I was just... angry too... that's all, I didn't mean-"

"Okay, no excuses, you've already apologized enough, okay?" Naruto interrupted. "Besides, where did you learn Rasengan?"

A smile appeared on Sakura's face and she giggled. "I'm glad you noticed..."


	7. Chapter 6

**VI**

Now, back to our good friend, Sirius. Sirius had put his proper attire back on and had left his acquaintances. He needed to find something. Something "important" to him, and he had no time to stick around, in his opinion. He grabbed his sword and headed off. Though, upon leaving, Sirius felt cold, as if something... inhuman was watching at him. He unsheathed his sword and turned around, but nothing was there.

It started to rain and there were no civilians to be found. Sirius stood there alone in the rain and loosened his grip on his sword. But, he heard a faint sound and instantly turned to his original position and held the sword in front of him with an intent to kill. Instead, it was a girl with blonde hair and four pink tails; dressed in all black and a giant closed fan behind her.

"Geez! Mind pointing that somewhere else?" she asked ignorantly.

Sirius smirked and loosened his grip. The girl hadn't even flinched. But Sirius had to ask anyway, "Who are you?" he asked blandly.

"Why would you like to know?" she asked smartly.

Sirius started tightening his grip. "I'd really advise you to tell me who you are..." Sirius remarked threateningly.

"And who are you to tell me what I should and should not do?!" the girl asked slightly louder, almost in a yell. "Look, not to put you down or anything, but would you mind _not_ interrogating me like I'm going to prison or something?"

"Sorry..."

"You should be."

"And why would that be?"

"Man, you are _slow_..."

"Can you just tell me who you are so we can move on, please?"

"Well, if you wanna know _that _badly... The name's Temari."

"Eh, nice to meet you, I guess."

"Let's skip the formalities. Could you just get out my way now? _Please_?"

"That's what I wanted you to do a _long_ time ago."

"_Fine_! Go ahead! _I'm_ not stopping you!"

"Then, why haven't you done the same thing with me?" Sirius threw back at Temari.

"Don't act smart with me, kid!"

"That's what you've been doing for the past... 10 minutes?"

"Why do you have to be this _annoying_?! Can't you just _move_?!"

"Then move!" Sirius replied, raising his voice.

"Not until _you_ move!"

"Then, I guess we're _stuck_ here!"

There was silence for a moment.

"Alright, this is getting boring! _Move_!"

"Shut the _hell_ up and move then!"

"Why don't _you_ shut the hell up, asshole?"

"Oh, so you wanna start cussing with _me_, eh?"

"Fine! Why not!"

"Fine then, go ahead show me what you've got, _woman_!"

"Don't be a a freaking sexist!, boy!"

"_Now_ look who's being sexist!"

"Stop doing that!"

"Doing _what_?!"

"Stop mocking me, dammit!"

"Why don't _you_ stop mocking _me_?!"

"So, _Temari_, how old are you _anyway_?"

"18! How old are you-..." Temari stopped. She didn't know Sirius' name.

"_Ha_! _I got you_! I _so_ got you!" Sirius laughed his head off.

"Um... Uh..." Now, Temari was stumbling on her own words.

Sirius continued to laugh like crazy.

"Stop laughing already! Stop it! It's not funny!"

"_Aw_, I think _somebody's_ getting their feelings hurt!" Sirius replied in a mocking voice and kept laughing.

"STOP IT!!! STOP LAUGHING AT ME!!!" Temari screamed (Well, it wasn't really a "scream", more like a holler. Temari doesn't literally "scream".) With this, Sirius decided to stop. It was enough for him anyway.

"Fine, fine, fine," he still had a bit of the giggles.

Temari went and punched Sirius in the face. There was a cracking sound. "That's for laughing at me!"

Sirius moved his head back in place. "_Ow_! That _hurt_, girl!"

Temari then slammed her foot down on Sirius' left foot. "And _that's_ for not getting out of my way!"

"Oh yeah?!" Sirius retorted through seething pain. He threw a punch into Temari's stomach. Blood spouted from her mouth.

"Hey... you shouldn't hit a girl you know," she replied weakly, holding in her stomach.

"And why is that?" Sirius asked mockingly.

"Because they bite back!" Temari kicked Sirius in the crotch.

Sirius fell to his knees and held his crotch. Immense pain shot through his body all at once. "Ow!" he squeaked.

Temari laughed hard and fell on the ground, laughing; pounding at the ground with her fist whilst laughing hysterically.

Sirius stood up and head butted Temari, but instead he felt more pain. This only made Temari laugh harder, "Forehead protector!" and she continued to laugh hysterically.

Temari stood upright, still consumed by remaining giggles. "You know, I like _you_! He he, you're _funny_!"

"Well, thanks a lot," Sirius replied sarcastically. "My head feels kind of funny."

"Yeah, you'll be feeling that for weeks!" Temari replied cheerfully. Sirius began to fall over, but Temari held him up. "There, there! C'mon, stand up, man!"

"Sorry... That just... kind of hurt, you know?" Sirius replied, dazed.

"You know, you're fun behind that serious, "robotic" exterior! Friends?" Temari asked.

"O-okay..." Sirius found it strange that he could be friends with someone by arguing with them.

"So... How old are you anyway?" Temari asked, now talking more seriously as they walked down the street together.

"I'm 17..." he replied, still a little dazed.

"Hey, you're close to my age! Cool..." she replied.

_Wow, this girl's kind of like me... _Sirius thought. _I think I might grow to like her..._


	8. Chapter 7

**VII**

The next day had some startling news. Orochimaru... was found dead... not just dead, but totally mutilated. There was no presence of what killed him, but the ANBU concluded that it could _not _have been human. No technique that was ever to be known of couldn't have even done as much damage as this "thing" did. Some believed they should be cheering for Orochimaru's death, but then again, that still means that there's something still out there... maybe even stronger than Orochimaru...

The Hokage's office was hectic, as if there was no end, all because of the death of Orochimaru.

"I want everyone on this _immediately_! I don't care who I just want to find out _who killed Orochimaru and why_!" Tsunade ordered. All of the Konoha Jonin and ANBU were on this case. Even all of the other main countries wanted to get in on this.

Sakura sat outside of the Hokage's office. _What do they mean by Orochimaru dead? I died that easily. It can't be... But wait a sec_, she thought to herself and a small seed of joy was planted in her heart. _That means... Sasuke can't be Orochimaru's vessel after all!_

"Sakura!" Tsunade called through the door.

"Coming!" Sakura called back and entered through the rather _large_ wooden door. When Sakura entered, there were piles of paperwork _everywhere_.

"Sakura, it is very important that you listen to this," Tsunade ordered, shifting her eyes toward a tape player on her desk.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"It's a tape of what the killer had said before leaving Orochimaru's body," Shizune replied, just entering through the door; carrying more paperwork.

Tsunade pressed the "play" button.

The tape began...

"_So... it is you who have come for the experiment too..._" That was Orochimaru.

"_Yes... I have, Orochimaru..._" The other voice was split with an older child's voice and a demon's voice.

"_But what is your motive?_"

There was a small silence.

"_My motives are my own..._"

"_Really? Are you so sure that you can't share with me?_"

"_Why would I corpse?_"

"_Hmph. So you know about my technique too... What else do you know?_"

"_I know many things... All things... I am one... You should know that by now, Orochimaru..._"

"_Yes, you are powerful, but you are not that great._"

"_Neither are you corpse!_" There was was an explosion-like sound. "_Do not question me!_"

"_If you also knew everything, you would know that I have a soul._" Orochimaru laughed defiantly. "_I am not the living dead!_"

"_Yes... that's right... if you were the dead... You wouldn't be able to be killed!_" There was a choking sound, and then another explosion, only this one sounded thicker than the one before.

"_He he he..._" Then, the split voice let out some obnoxious crazy laugh. "_He is dead. If anyone is hearing this, they will be dead too... if they get between me and the experiment!_ _He is mine to kill!_" The split voice laughed again and then there was a crashing sound.

The tape stopped.

"Wh-what exactly _was_ that?" Sakura asked, almost scared.

Tsunade looked up at Sakura more seriously then ever before and sighed. "We don't know... "

"What about Sasuke-kun?!" Sakura asked.

"We never found a body."

"Orochimaru's assistant, Kabuto, is missing too," Shizune added.

"Then what are we going to do?"

"Our ANBU and Jonin are investigating, but we need another team to go in search of another spot..."

"Where?"

Tsunade looked to Sakura again. "The Valley of the End..."

Sakura was chosen to pick out a chosen number of people to investigate the Valley of the End. She had already chosen a few: Naruto, Temari and Sirius. They had already left Konoha behind for now and were said to be gone for about a month or so. What? You thought it was that easy getting to the Valley of the End? Naruto and the gang were _forced_ to take the _long way_. And because no one else volunteered, Naruto was forced with the map. Sirius went ahead and wanted to be left on his own.

"Where's he going?" Sakura asked.

"Heh, it's not like you have to worry about him, little girl," Temari replied.

"Eh, he can take care of himself," Naruto insisted, studying the map.

Sakura didn't seem so sure.

Sirius' actually idea in mind was to find any traps up ahead. He didn't want his teammates to get hurt along the way. That would slow the whole team down. And that would lose them time. Sirius was, _in fact_, compassionate for once (but this could also be confused with as plain responsibility.)

Sakura felt odd. Everyday that Sirius stayed with her, she got more and more curious about him and his past. Sirius was ignorant, uncompassionate, ambitious (sort of), and had absolutely _no_ love-life. He was a like a robot or something, but Sakura wouldn't have been able to heal him with chakra alone if he was of artificial intelligence. Sirius _was_ human. And at the same time, she pushed away from Naruto more and more probably too the point that they'll just be friends again. Sirius was mysterious overall. That was probably his best trait.

But she saw him earlier with Temari, talking to her. She decided she'd better ask Temari.

Sakura moved back over by Temari. "Temari?" she asked. "What exactly is Sirius like?"

"Heh, wouldn't you like to know. You aren't his type anyway."

"I didn't mean it by that. I just want to get along with him like you do."

"Well, screw you, little girl!" Temari took a punch at her. Sakura never knew Temari to be this hostile... unless...

Sakura caught the punch and landed on a large tree branch and threw Temari into another tree. Naruto stopped too.

"Sakura-chan! What are you doing?!" Naruto had not a clue what was going on.

"Naruto! That isn't Temari!" Sakura called to him. Sakura was right. Half of the fake Temari's face peeled off into a gruesome display of flesh that was covered in organs and muscle. "Go get Sirius! Now!" The fake Temari's right arm broke off entirely into a deformed, fleshy arm that was red and covered in organs and muscle, just like the half of the fake Temari's face that had peeled off. The creature's fleshy arm elongated and grabbed Sakura and began to squeeze her.

"SAKURA-CHAN!!!" Naruto yelled at the scene before him. Not even Sakura's superhuman strength could break the grasp. And when she did break its grasp, it reformed with even more flesh grabbing at her.

"Naruto! Go... get... Sirius-kun!" Sakura begged as the crushing force of the elongated, fleshy hand tightened more and more every second.

Naruto didn't take to her orders well. He formed the hand seal necessary and then, "_Kage Bushin no Jutsu_!" A clone of himself appeared and started to form a large ball of chakra in their hands. The size of it was a little bigger than a basketball and he and the clone threw themselves and the unstable ball of chakra at the monster.

"_OODAMA RASENGAN_!!!" Both yelled as the enormous ball of chakra struck. It made a huge crater in the arm, but did nothing but reform after the ball dissipated. "No! Sakura-chan!"

"GO GET SIRIUS-KUN!!!" Sakura screamed, unable to take anymore of the squeezing sensation.

The creature laughed as the other half of its body appeared. This on was more human, only both sides of its face had lots of white, spiky hair, and the human side's skin was extremely gray and its eyes were blood-shot and red. A twisted grin was planted on the creature's face. It also seemed it was still wearing regular clothes, but almost all of the right half of its body, except for its foot, were covered in the fleshy, organs. "Yes, YES! Die, die for me!" It laughed horridly again.

"GO!!! Sakura screamed yet again to Naruto.


	9. Chapter 8

**VIII**

The monster glanced over at Naruto, who had started to leave in search of Sirius. "Where do you think you're going?" the creature asked with an insane tone in its voice. The reddish-brown gas came from the fleshy side of the creature's body and rushed towards Naruto.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried to him, struggling under the extreme pressure.

But the reddish-brown gas made it to Naruto and suddenly he stopped. A red aura started forming around his body after a moment of silence. He started to growl suddenly. Sakura gulped nervously, not sure what was going on.

"Looks like my work here is done!" the creature sneered maliciously. "Your _friend_ is under _my control now_!" It laughed manically and immediately sped off, letting go Sakura.

Naruto turned his head slowly. His eyes were red in blinded fury. The red aura became plasma and started to form a large tail behind Naruto. He growled fiercely and turned completely around.

"Naruto?!" Sakura called to him, not understanding why he was acting like this so suddenly.

Naruto didn't answer, but instead leapt at Sakura. Sakura was confused and scared. She didn't know what exactly to do. She leapt over to another branch as quickly as she could before Naruto had gotten a hold of her. Naruto stopped on the branch next to Sakura and launched a plasma claw at her. Sakura ducked, but Naruto immediately thrashed down the plasma; slamming Sakura down to the branches below.

Sakura didn't know how to defend herself. Last time she tried to calm Naruto down, it didn't work as she had planned, so her only other option was to stop Naruto. But Sakura couldn't defend herself against something that couldn't be hurt. She wasn't like Naruto _or_ Sasuke. She didn't have a monster inside of her or a curse seal.

Naruto rushed down to the lower branched and grabbed Sakura with another plasma claw and threw her over to a nearby waterfall.

Sakura was shoved into the water and couldn't breath. She couldn't get the claw off of her either. She couldn't even touch it. _I'm going to drown here if I don't do something!_ Sakura thought. _But... what do I do?! _Sakura struggled, tearing at the plasma claw, even though she knew she could do nothing. _But... wait..._ She thought of something at the last minute. Her palm glowed green and, with extreme precision, she cut the claw and it disintegrated. This was _her_ weapon... for now...

Sirius had no idea what was going on behind him, but he didn't care either. He had to get to the Valley of the End first and investigate the matter of Orochimaru's death. But, at the same time, he felt that he was being followed. Sirius stopped and turned around.

He grabbed his sword hilt and unsheathed his sword. "Who's there?!" Sirius called out. "Show yourself!" He knew for a fact he was being followed, but wasn't sure by _what_, exactly. He sheathed his sword back and kept on going onward.

Eventually, he came to the Valley of the End. "Finally..." he muttered. He looked around as if expected to find something. But what he found was _not _what he had expected.

"We meet again, _Sirius_," a familiar voice sneered. Sirius swept his head from side to side, then looked up. At the top of one of the heads, was none other than a small, distant figure of Sasuke Uchiha.

"_You_!" Sirius called to him, a spark of murderous intent in his eye.

"_Yes_... Surprised to see me?" he asked and then laughed.

"Not in the least bit!" Sirius retorted.

"No, I didn't think so..."

"So, why are _you_ here?"

"I _know_ you're investigating the death of Orochimaru. But, I know who did it, and I think you have a "_grand_" idea who, as well."

Sirius' eyes grew wide, "The Ragnorok...?!"

"_Yes_. That's the one..."

"But how did he-?"

"Well, it seems that seal you performed didn't last _nearly_ as long you had thought it would, did it?"

"It was supposed to seal him into another dimension! How did he get out?"

Sasuke laughed again, "Wouldn't you like to know!"

"Tell me, Uchiha!" Sirius yelled, raising his voice.

"No..." Sasuke. "And if I _did_ know... I wouldn't tell _you_, _experiment_!"

Sirius clenched his fist and unsheathed his broad-sword. He rushed over to the water fall immediately afterward.

Sasuke did the same, unsheathing his katana and shot down the waterfall with it in hand.

Their swords clashed intensely at the very bottom of the waterfall.

Sakura was thrown back into the waterfall that was much farther way from Sirius and Sasuke's location. Naruto had just grown two more tails for a total of three. _One more, and I'm as good as dead_, she thought frantically. To make things worse, she was losing too much chakra from using her technique so excessively. She didn't have anything else to go with. She jumped up from Naruto's attack with his plasma claws again and then threw a chakra-enhanced punch right at his head. It apparently connected, making a nicely sized crater in the ground with Naruto in the middle of it. _Yes! I hit him!_ she thought as Naruto stood there motionless. But then, as she landed on her feet next to the crater, she noticed Naruto slightly twitch.

Just as suddenly, his body was covered in black and his body grew larger and more fox-like. _NO!_ Sakura screamed in her mind. There was now no possible way she could prevail after this. Naruto was growing his fourth tail again.

After fully forming, the fox-like Naruto leapt up and landed on all fours with the ground crashing from below him. Sakura was pummeled back into the waterfall again. _What now? It's over... _Sakura gave up as she floated along the waterfall. A four-tailed Naruto was roaring triumphantly. She was going to die in this place... But... something odd happened that made Sakura feel kind of awkward... She closed her eyes and the water around her began to steam up. Strangely, it felt warm all around Sakura's body, and yet she had no idea why.

_I'm not letting you die on me, girl! My power's yours now!_

_Who's that?_ Sakura thought to herself, dazed. Suddenly, her whole body glowed in a green aura. Her body had strings of pink chakra encircle it. Sakura's eyes opened slightly and then, she disappeared from the water and appeared on her feet, on land. A four-tailed Naruto became confused and slightly curious. Sakura's skin became slightly tanner with a grayish tinge to it. An empowered Sakura took her headband from her head and and tied it on her forehead instead. She knotted it and pulled the knot tightly. With her hands still there, eyes snapped open. The white of her eyes were black and the color of her eyes changed to pink with a small diamond where each pupil should've been with six smaller dots surrounding them. Sakura put her hands down, not letting her eyes off of the fox-like Naruto.

Sakura got into a stance. "What are you waiting for?" Sakura's voice was split with her own voice and a demonic voice. "Come!"


	10. Chapter 9

**IX**

Sasuke and Sirius jumped back on top of the water. Sasuke eyes changed to the same red as his Sharingan and his cursed seal started to form on his body. He stopped once the first level was complete and rushed at Sirius with speed that Sirius couldn't even compare to.

_Crap! _he thought as Sasuke came from behind, but quickly weaved around and slammed his fist into Sirius' face. The punch connected and Sirius flung back, but Sasuke quickly swerved behind him and punched him in the back, making Sirius land into the water nearby.

_I can't believe I have to use it now... _Sirius thought as he began to sink. Irregular, twisting, black stripes started forming on Sirius' entire body. He had entered the first level of his _own_ cursed seal. The origin of _his_ cursed seal was from a long time ago, when Sirius was 12. Sirius was one of the first and was used as a test subject. That's why he was _called_ an experiment in the first place. It was believed he died after the early cursed seal began to control his entire body in a final stage that was rumored as the "third level" of the cursed seal.

But, this was proven wrong after Sirius returned, and then, Sirius defied Orochimaru and left him. After the skies blackened, Sirius believed it to be his quest to help the skies return to their former color.

Sirius immediately lashed out of the water and formed hand seals. "_Suiton: Suishōha_!" The water below the waterfall rose up into a gigantic tidal wave. Sasuke's eyes widened as the massiveness of it. Sirius pressed his hands together and the tidal wave crashed down upon Sasuke with so much force it created a large basin of water where the tidal wave had struck. Soon enough, the basin bubbled and crashed up; imploding upon itself. Sasuke didn't have time to attack. Sirius started forming even more hand seals.

"_Suiton: Daibakure no Jutsu_!" The rising water spun around viciously and started lowering, crushing the earth below it. A giant maelstrom appeared from the collapsing water. You couldn't even see Sasuke through all of the water movement. Sirius pressed his hands down into the water and the maelstrom subsided. Sirius sighed and stood up, staring down at the water. The skies grayed more than usual as Sirius started to look up at the skies. They seemed to darkened, as if some sort of hurricane was coming. That's when Sirius looked down, hearing a bubbling sound below him. Eventually, a grayish-tan hand appeared out of the water and grabbed Sirius by one of his ankles; Sirius instantly felt himself being lifted upward. Sasuke shot out of the water, pulling Sirius upward. Sasuke had transformed to the second level of his cursed seal. The white of his eyes was, instead, black. His hair was much longer and turned into a bluish-gray color. His skin was grayish-tan color and two large hand-like wings were grown out of his back.

Sasuke stopped, high in air. He grabbed Sirius other ankle and wrapped his legs around an up-side down Sirius' upper body and they were instantly thrust downward. _Shit!_ Sirius thought and allowed _his own_ cursed seal to consume _his_ body. But, Sirius' cursed seal was different. All of the lines moved over to the right of his body and formed there, but not over on the left side. Sirius' headband fell of as well during the transformation. Sirius' body glowed red as it usually would during transformation. Also, only half of his face was covered by the glow. When they hit the water, Sasuke instantly let go with a broad sneer of a smile on his face. But something was wrong to him... Sirius didn't seem to be dead... When the idea hit him, it literally _hit_ him. A large, elongated, black arm with only three claw-like fingers and a clawed thumb; with white stripes all over the place struck him and shoved him into the water. That's where he saw the transformed Sirius. Sirius' body was only consumed by half-yes, but half of his face was black and covered slightly in white stripes. Sirius' scar also turned white, but you could distinctly tell his scar from the other stripes. His right eye was red and his eyes color was white. His left eye was the regular color or a cursed seal: the white was black and his eye color was yellow. Sirius' mutated arm shortened back to its regular size. Where his shoulder was, there was a long spike there, also black with white stripes. From all angles, the arm looked a little flat, like it was tape.

"Let us begin..." Sirius replied. His voice was higher in tone and a smirk was on his face.

Back to the battle with Four-Tailed Kyuubi Naruto and Inner Empowered Sakura...

Sakura had a small trail of blood from the corner of her mouth. She punched back a lunging Four-Tailed Kyuubi Naruto, knocking him back into a nearby boulder. Sakura jumped up and struck at the boulder once and an earthquake issued afterwards. Naruto was caught in the earthquake, but didn't allow himself to be defeated that easily. Sakura gripped her arm in pain. Even though she had unmatched strength for now, it was painful for her to use this power excessively so. Naruto found his spot to strike and powered up an attack within his tails.

Sakura noticed the attack coming and immediately stood up, let go of her arm, and punched the fox-like Naruto in the stomach, blood spurting from its mutated mouth. Sakura thrust another punch into its face, making it fly back. Sakura fell to her knees, each arm holding each other in agony.

_I've just got to beat up Naruto enough to change him back_, she thought. _That should be easy enough... If this pain doesn't kill me first. _That was true in itself. Every- time Sakura got injured, the chakra she had would regenerate the cells and heal the wound entirely, but this would shorten her life span a little bit each time.

But Naruto didn't back off, he just kept coming. This both irritated and scared Sakura. He wouldn't stop and this would continue to shorten her life span with each injury, not to mention the pain from defending herself. She had to stop this madness _somehow_. Then she thought of something. Sakura herself backed off and jumped over to a nearby ledge. Naruto followed wildly, but to another cliff instead. He must've known what she had in mind.

Sakura started to forming a ball of swirling energy in the palm of her hand.

Naruto formed the nine-tail chakra into a slightly larger ball in his clawed hand.

Sakura's ball started to take shape and turned the color of a sort of pinkish-green.

Naruto slightly larger ball of chakra also took shape, but his was black and the center was blood-red.

The two looked up and stared at each other for a moment, revealing all of their emotions into this one last attack. They both took stance and shot up from their ledges, flying above the ground, chakra emitting from both of them. They were soon just inches from each other, ready to attack. Sakura pulled back her "Spiraling Sphere", anger on her face. The same with the Four-Tailed Kyuubi Naruto. Then, they shot their attacks at each other. There was silence for a moment and then...

"_RASENGAN_!"

The "Spiraling Spheres" clashed with one another. Vibrant auras of red and green shot out from the clashed attacks. They both put even more power into their attacks, trying to make it so themselves beat the other. Once they were all out of chakra, a white flash was left behind, engulfing the area around them. Nothing could be seen past that flash

Sakura and Naruto were both normal now, but with white all around them. For a second, Sakura thought she was dead.

"Sakura... Thank you..."

Sakura smiled.

"But is it true...?"

"What?"

"Do you love me?"

Sakura thought for a second and then smiled strongly again and shook her head.

"Good... I knew we were just friends anyway..."

The light around them faded.


	11. Chapter 10

**X**

Naruto appeared near the bottom of the waterfall, holding Sakura in his arms. Her eyes were closed and her mouth slightly open. "Sakura?" he asked. There was no answer. Naruto started to get a twinge of fear. "Sakura-chan?" he asked, raising his voice slightly. There was still no answer. Fear was painted all over Naruto's face. He shook her lightly, but it didn't work. "Sakura-chan?! Wake up! Don't play games with me! Please... wake up!" Naruto's tension started to rise violently, his eyes widened. The ball for fear and frustration grew more and more with each passing moment. "WAKE UP! PLEASE DON'T DIE!" Naruto hollered at Sakura, but not even screaming at her would wake her up. Large tears fell from Naruto's face.

"_SAKURA-CHAN_!!!"

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Sirius fought on. Sasuke had the advantage because he could fly, but Sirius was stronger. And since they were on a field of battle that contained access to a large amount of water, which Sirius had a big advantage on that as well.

"_Suiton: Suitakaru no Jutsu_!" Sirius yelled after forming and head seals and whole swarm of water dragons thrashed out of the water straight at Sasuke. The lashed at Sasuke viciously as he tried to get away from them somehow, but Sirius persisted and eventually, catching Sasuke in a corner, the water dragons swallowed up Sirius, but Sirius didn't stop there, he formed more hand seals.

"_Suirō no Jutsu_!" A circular prison of water entrapped Sasuke and Sirius stretched his black, mutated arm into the prison, or else it would not form correctly, nor be able to hold Sasuke. But Sirius didn't necessarily use it as a prison, but instead thrust down his elongated arm into the ground below, along with the prison itself. There was an explosion and water splashed from everywhere where the water prison originally had fallen.

Sasuke began to stand up, breathing irregularly. Some blood trickled down his mouth, but soon wiped it off with his sleeve. "Now it's my turn!" He muttered savagely at Sirius. Sasuke jumped, floating upon his hand wing and off her went towards the left and towards Sirius. Once near enough, he immediately kicked Sirius upward, then smacked him with both his wing and then his leg at Sirius, smacking him to the ground. Then, a black-and-white ball of lightning formed in Sasuke's right hand and he thrust it down on Sirius' body. "_Musō Gōfūjin_!" Sasuke yelled as he jumped back from Sirius' body and floated over the edge.

Blood spattered from Sirius' mouth and he, struggling, started to stand up. It began to rain heavily at this moment and lightning clashed in the background.

"Why, _experiment_, why do you persist? It is _hopeless_, as you very well know as much as I, that I am going to _destroy_ you! So... What is your _reason_, what is your _purpose_?!" Sasuke asked, irritated.

"My name... is _Sirius_..." he muttered, looking over at Sasuke. Immediately, he shot his blackened arm at Sasuke and crushed him into a nearby ledge. The force of which, he had made an enormous crater inside it. Sirius wiped the arm back towards himself. At this time, Sirius immediately formed a ball of lightning in his other hand. When Sasuke had gotten near enough, Sirius let go and rushed the electricity into Sasuke's stomach and then threw him like a bag of dirt to the ground. Sasuke coughed hard, blood spurting from his mouth. Sirius walked over to Sasuke's struggling body and placed his foot on his stomach.

"How does it _feel_ to be the one _in the dirt_?!" Sirius sneered angrily. Sasuke sneered back and instantly threw Sirius off of him and grabbed Sirius' foot and started spinning him. After a moment, he let go, throwing Sirius into the opposite cliff. Sirius crunched into it and fell to the ground below. Sasuke flew down to him.

Sirius had immediately gotten up afterward. "Now... play time's over!" Sirius hollered as he formed another "One-Thousand Birds", but this time, he split it in two. "_Chidori_..." Sirius rushed at Sasuke with the two balls of lightning in his hands, "_Katana_!" Sirius rushed upon Sasuke at the speed of light; the balls of lightning striking Sasuke over and over again, like swords. Sasuke couldn't even stop to block, Sirius was so fast. _So... Sirius, you are definitely inventive..._ Sasuke thought. Sirius eventually stopped and then, as one final takedown, he thrust the balls of lightning into Sasuke's stomach, shoving him back.

Sasuke fell to the ground tumbling. The balls of lightning dissipated; Sirius breathed hard. He couldn't do that technique again if he tried. At least, not for today. Sasuke had gotten up though. _Geez, how much can this guy take?! _Sirius thought to himself. But, like he had said, this was no time for games, he had to finish off Sasuke ofr his plan to stop Sasuke once-and-for-all to work.

Sasuke formed hand seals and immediately on his side of the waterfall, he formed a large ball of lightning into his hands that was black-and-white, like the one before. This one could definitely be said as much more powerful though. Sirius guessed Sasuke was thinking the same thing he was. He _had_ to finish this for good. There was _no_ question about it, Sirius had to use his last and most powerful technique yet. Sirius slowly put his hands to the ground and called, "_Chidori_!" This was, indeed, no _normal_ "One-Thousand Birds". The ball of lightning was huge, and was pure white, with yellowish-white sparks flying from it. A beautiful, white beam of light shot from Sirius up to the skies above him. The beam of light had shot through the clouds, revealing true light upon Sirius. This only angered Sasuke more.

The starred at each square in the eyes for a moment and then rushed at each other at the speed of light. Sirius even had the white beam of light streaking behind him. They jumped into the air and clashed their magnificent balls of lightning at one another.

"_CHIDORI_!!!"

Sasuke reached over and punched Sirius in the chest. Weakened even more, but still putting more chakra into his ball of lightning. Eventually, when it came down to it, Sirius, barely, had won and Sasuke was blown back and fell to the ground below. Sirius mind clicked. _Now's my chance!_ he thought. Sirius fell too, but, even with the wounds on his body, he limped over to Sasuke.

Sasuke was covered in his own blood, breathing hard and had morphed back to his regular self. "It's... _time_...!" Sirius spat weakly. Sirius formed hand seals, even if they were a bit slower this time than usual, but that was because he was seriously injured. Sirius knelt down to Sasuke and slammed his hand on Sasuke's chest. After that, Sirius started pulling something white and translucent out of Sasuke. Sasuke was in twice as much pain now, as it seemed as if it were a soul being ripped out of him. But this wasn't any normal soul, it was the soul of his level two self. The curse mark on Sasuke's neck also started to disappear, little by little. But no matter how much Sasuke tried to move, he couldn't. He couldn't even make the least bit of effort. Once Sirius had pulled out the soul entirely, it transformed into a floating ball of white fire. Sirius stood up from the near-death Sasuke and threw the fire over towards Konoha. "There... that soul will have a _new_ life... away from _you_..."

"But why not take my _own soul_...?" Sasuke rasped.

Sirius starred at Sasuke for a moment and then replied, "It is because... he is _more_ special... than _you_..."


	12. Chapter 11

**XI**

Naruto had went up ahead with Sakura's body to check to see if Sirius was okay. _I hope he hasn't suffered the same fate as Sakura-chan has..._, Naruto thought to himself. Biting his lip, Naruto had made it to the Valley of the End. What he saw was what frightened him the most. Sasuke lay there in a pool of his own blood... dead. Naruto friend had died at the hands of his new ally, Sirius, who sat up against a nearby cliff holding his stomach.

"Sirius!" Naruto called to him. Sirius slowly turned his head. His cursed seal was still turned on, but soon enough it disappeared. Naruto was stunned. He didn't know Sirius had a cursed seal _too_.

"Sirius, you-"

"I know... But all you have to know, is that Sasuke's dead... He's gone, Naruto... I couldn't save him..." Sirius interrupted, but somewhat lied. He _didn't_ attempt to bring back Sasuke. He _wanted_ Sasuke dead. Naruto held his head down in sadness. Both of his best friends were dead.

After a moment, Naruto finally spoke up. "Sakura's dead too..." he muttered.

"What?!" he asked, shocked entirely. How could she have died when- _Why didn't I think about that!? I was such an idiot!_ he thought, yelling to himself in his head. But, he swallowed, and instead of acting more conscious towards Naruto, he instead acted formally, as he _always_ did. "How did she die?" he asked.

Naruto shed a tear and looked up at Sirius, "I killed her!" Naruto cried. Sirius let some of his surprise and sadness seep into his expression as Naruto went on. "There was nothing I could do! The Kyuubi suddenly just... took control! I couldn't help it!" Naruto calmed himself more so he could explain further. "Sakura... had been attacked by Temari! She had changed entirely into this... this _thing_! We knew then that that wasn't really Temari after all this time! But, it was crushing Sakura's body, and she couldn't do anything about it! She told me to go get you! At first, I didn't listen, but then I went to go after _you_! But then, I remember this red smoke and then, everything went _blank_!" Naruto cried more. "I couldn't help it!"

Sirius looked down to the ground, clenching his fists. "It was _him_ after all... The bitch was right..." Sirius swore under his breath. He looked up to Naruto. "That thing you saw... do remember if it ran off? And if it did, where was it going?" Sirius asked, slightly afraid.

"I already told you, I was coming for you, I didn't see where it was going!"

"Which direction were you heading then?"

"How am I supposed to know _that_?!"

Sirius sighed. Naruto kept crying until he felt a slight movement behind him. It was... Sakura? She was alive?!

"Sirius!" Naruto called to him.

"What?"

"It's Sakura!"

"Wha-?!" Sirius immediately ran over to Naruto.

"Let her down," he ordered.

Naruto took Sakura off his back and lay her down against a ledge so she would sit up.

Sirius put his ear next to Sakura's heart. It was, in fact, beating, but slowly, meaning she was dying, if she didn't have medical care soon. Sirius' eyes widened. "She's alive! Quickly! We have to get her back to Konoha _now_!" Sirius ordered and put Sakura on his back; ignoring his own wounds. Naruto followed behind Sirius. They were heading home...

Naruto was sitting in the waiting room for Sakura's condition to be announced. Sirius had left to do an "errand". _Please... I hope nothing bad has happened to Sakura-chan..._, he thought. But he couldn't stop this feeling in him that something was wrong. Sakura would be okay, he made himself think. She _had_ to be okay.

Meanwhile, Sirius walked along the street, alone, as usual. His wounds were tended to, but Sirius didn't want to stay at hospital forever, so he had left. _So, that Temari was fake... So, what happened to the real one? Was there even a real one?_ he thought. But, in fact, as smart and intelligent as Sirius was, he didn't know what to think. He was stumped. Sirius decided upon something there and then. Sirius starred up at the dark, gray sky that always appeared there, except for at night. _That's what I'll do..._, he thought, _I'll turn the skies back to the way they were._ _That way, I can do something with my life... But my other goal will be... The death of my mortal enemy... The enemy I've had since I was experimented on by Orochimaru... Ragnorok..._

But, Sirius knew that Ragnorok was much more powerful than himself. He didn't stand a chance. That's why, he was going to train. Hard enough that he would create a technique that would defeat Ragnorok. He wouldn't resort to just sealing again. Not with _him_. If Ragnorok escaped once, then he had to do this. On his own though. Others would just get in the way, and if someone died, that would be _his _baggage. No, he was going to do this alone.

After an hour or so, Sirius decided to go back to the hospital; to check if Naruto had word on Sakura's condition. Sirius wanted to say goodbye to her before he left Konoha. As he ventured towards the hospital, he got this strange feeling that he was going to actually _miss _her. Sirius never had gotten the _least_ attached to anyone in his life. Sirius had never known his parents. Sirius never had any friends through life either. That was why Sirius had become Orochimaru's "puppet". But he didn't think that back then. But, when Sirius had discovered Orochimaru's true purpose, he had left and betrayed Orochimaru. Now, Sirius believed that Orochimaru had deserved what he had gotten. Death was waiting for him anyway.

But, when Sirius thought about the cruel things he had done to people while working for Orochimaru, he had believed that he would burn in Hell. But now, Sirius seemed to be looking for redemption.

When Sirius got to the hospital, Naruto was still sitting there, twiddling his thumbs.

"Did they say anything?" he asked, though he seemed to already know the answer to _that_.

"No, they haven't," Naruto answered nervously.

"Oh," he muttered.

But, on that note, Tsunade had just come out of the operating room; a grim look stood on her face.

"I'm sorry..." she muttered.

Horror spread on Naruto's face, "She's... dead?"

Sirius gulped anxiously, hoping that wasn't the truth.

"I'm sorry, boys, but no, she's not dead. But, Sakura is, in fact in... Well, she must've gone into shock for some reason, but her heart didn't want to die. And so, Sakura is-" Tsunade sighed. "Sakura's in a coma."

Both Sirius and Naruto's eyes widened in dread and amazement.

"We don't know how long she will be in this coma. It could range from a week, a month, a few years, maybe even the rest of her life. So, she won't be released from hospital care until she's awake, or else she'll die of starvation, dehydration, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So, I'm sorry boys. And if she's in a coma for _too_ long... Then, well, we'll have to put her to sleep. Then, she'll be considered dead or deceased, however you want to say it, because she would be in this coma for too long," Tsunade explained further. "Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"But, isn't there a technique that can put Sakura-chan out of this coma?!" Naruto asked frantically.

Tsunade sighed again, "I'm sorry Naruto, but there isn't. Besides, Sakura could be awake by tomorrow for all we know!"

But, Tsunade knew that that couldn't be proven true, but it couldn't be proven false either.

Sirius closed his eyes. "Naruto, come off it. We don't know, now one knows," Sirius opened his eyes. "But what we do have is _faith_ that Sakura can pull through."

"Shut the hell up! You don't know either!"

"No, I don't," Sirius admitted. "But, I believe Sakura is stronger than this."

Naruto calmed down. "I guess you're right... And when she does wake up... I'll be there for her."

Sirius starred at Naruto for a second with a plain face, but then actually _smiled_. "So will I, Naruto. So will I."


	13. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

A year passes, and Sakura has still not awakened from her coma. Hardly anyone remembers her now, but in bits and pieces they do. Sirius remembers her fully, though, and stays with Sakura everyday. Sirius hopes that she will wake up, so Tsunade doesn't have to pull the plug and kill her. Naruto, too, has been with her, but clearly not as much as Sirius. Though, Sirius hopes that staying by Sakura's side will earn him his "redemption".

Sirius and Naruto have become better friends since then, realizing each others pasts and knowing that both of them have been through many things that the other has too. And so, they train together on a daily basis. But, they also talk and have fun together. But, in their hearts, they still miss Sakura.

Tsunade had surprisingly found Sirius' files and found that he was an ANBU squad leader at the age of 13, like Itachi Uchiha, but had left, due to falling into Orochimaru's hands. So, Orochimaru had erased Sirius' memory of his years before 13-years-old, even though he has gotten back bits and pieces of his memory from his dreams. Sirius now has a clear picture interpretation of his past now. And so, Sirius was made a Jonin of Konoha. Sirius bears the Leaf Headband as a symbol of his allegiance.

Sirius now also lives in Konoha and now has friends too, other than Naruto. Sirius has also grown much stronger over the passing year, and has created a few more techniques and combinations. Sirius has searched for Ragnorok, but has failed in his attempts, and has eventually given up on his search.

But what happened to Sasuke's body?

"You will now become a part of me, _Uchiha_... Your powers are _mine_ to command... You _will_ live on, but as a vision of my _own self_..." The flesh, organs, and muscle crept onto the right side of Sasuke's body. And when it combined with Sasuke, his left hand twitched and grabbed onto the ground under him...

The End... Or is it?


	14. Author's Note 2

**Author's Note 2**

This is NOT the end! This is only Part 1 of _Cry of the Comet_. Part 2 is in the making. Here is the summary for _Cry of the Comet: The Start of War_:

Summary:

A war has begun between Konoha and an unknown army formed by the infamous Ragnorok. Konoha is losing the battle, and Ragnorok's army keeps growing at a hysterical rate with the number of kills. Now, The Land of Wind has given Konoha aid, but not even that is enough. Konoha and Suna are in need of a war hero who can turn the tide. Naruto and Sirius arrive suddenly in aid to Suna and Konoha, but Ragnorok is still out there, making more troops by the minute with all of the ones Naruto and Sirius kill. At the same time, something strange happens when Sakura finally awakes from her coma. Sakura sometimes has fits where she can't control herself, and occasionally falls unconscious because of this, or hurting herself in the process. Sirius is trying to help Sakura, but is trying to help save Konoha at the same time. Now, Sirius must decide which is more important: His revenge on Ragnorok for killing his family and previous friends as a child, or help his friends with their own issues and despair?

The next book is a mix of drama and action/adventure. This is probably the longest part of the whole three-part saga. It will be coming soon to fan fiction near you!


End file.
